Role of Nurses in Rehabilitation Process

The disabled person may initially be unwilling to cooperate and may need some time to emotionally adjust to the specific loss. Rehabilitation should therefore proceed as follows:

• Providing support: As they learn to live with a disability, people go through several stages. The patient may initially experience shock that develops into denial or disbelief. He or she might fear suffering or passing away. The nurse encourages and aids in boosting self-confidence. The patient may have unrealistic doubts or hopes. He or she may be feeling irate, depressed, and hopeless. She should pay attention to how the patient is acting and give him or her the chance to express how they are feeling about the loss. The nurse should try to communicate in an appropriate manner and also encourage the individual to interact with people who are experiencing similar problems rather than criticizing or getting angry. Support for learning the skill can come in the form of medical, psychological, or social time. Support assists with:

  • Recognizing a disability
  • Crying at the loss
  • Establishing short- and long-term goals
  • Self-image reconstruction and acceptance
  • Adopt a sustainable lifestyle and be friendly to others.
  • Create a fresh, improved relationship with your family.
  • Provide for the impairment

• Maintaining Integrity: Depending on how much positive thinking and acceptance of limitations a person has, they may be able to return to their old lives. People who are impoverished, crippled, or unsightly are considered cursed in our culture. This is their "karma." Therefore, it is the nurse's duty to assist in providing normal care for the patient without making assumptions about their physical or mental impairments. The nurse must motivate the patient to engage in activity by praising them, even for small achievements.

• Preventing secondary disability: Secondary disabilities might develop as a result of the normal course of an illness, a lack of assistance, or a decline in motivation. For instance, a burn patient may recover, but poor care may result in contracture. The patient may experience a variety of immobility-related issues as a result of their immobility, and they may also experience secondary impairment. By helping the patient and family adopt a positive attitude, this issue can be avoided. When considering various facets of rehabilitation, a nurse's role is crucial to the patient's recovery. In the acute and subacute stages, the patient and nurse are in close contact. As a result, the nurse should organize the patient's rehabilitation to prevent any secondary disability, such as:

  • Stabilize the essential functions as a first step.
  • Cite a hospital or rehabilitation facility. healthcare facility
  • Start by educating to replace the missing components or functionalities.
  • Provision of rehabilitative care and secondary disability prevention.

• Evaluating Progress: A patient's progress must be continuously assessed. The nurse should assess his capacity for simple tasks, his coping mechanisms for his disability, his adaptations, etc. A range of functions, from simple to complex, should be observed. Planning for both short-term objectives, such as getting out of bed, sitting, or standing, and long-term objectives, such as walking with the aid of assistive technology, should be done and evaluated using a checklist. Nursing services is necessary for the disabled person for various reasons such as:

  • Establish a therapeutic and encouraging rapport with the patient and family.
  • Always focus on the patient's strengths and assets. Encourage the patient, listen intently, and share their success.
  • Kudos for your efforts to enhance your self-concept and self-care skills
  • The nurse creates a plan of care intended to aid rehabilitation by using the nursing process.
  • Help the patient recognize their assets, prior accomplishments, and new goals for managing with their disability, mobility, skin care, bowel and bowel management, etc.
  • Implement nursing preventive measures.
  • A multidisciplinary approach's coordination
  • Teaching
  • ADL, psychological, social, spiritual, and other forms of support